Our View: It's way past time for a CFO in New Bedford

One of the first things a newly elected Mayor Scott Lang did in 2006 was to request from the state Department of Revenue a Financial Management Review.

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Posted Jan. 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Jan. 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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One of the first things a newly elected Mayor Scott Lang did in 2006 was to request from the state Department of Revenue a Financial Management Review.

Lang was trying to get a handle on a $1.75 million operating deficit, no free cash, almost $14 million overdrawn in capital projects and at least $5 million overspent in PCB cleanup, which the DoR called an illegal act the city should not have authorized.

The review was issued in July that year. It offered 25 recommendations, including the recommendation to make the chief financial officer a separate office.

Lang's successor, current Mayor Jon Mitchell, presented his candidate for the office this week. He said in his inaugural address last January: "For a city of our size to be without a CFO is the equivalent of piloting a boat without a compass in the Buzzards Bay fog. It is a recipe for fiscal surprises that can be avoided with some forethought and strong financial oversight."

DoR Deputy Commissioner Robert Nunes in a phone interview Thursday to discuss the city's recent fiscal management said both mayors had done well working with their financial teams and the City Council, but he was most pleased that the hiring of a professional, experienced CFO was at hand for a city with a $300 million budget.

A re-reading of the 2006 DoR report makes it easy to see why.

A description of the duties performed in the combined treasurer/collector/CFO's office at the time states: "Unfortunately, the city has not benefited from the CFO position because it is in title only." It notes that the CFO's workload didn't allow proper management of the office and prevented long-term financial planning, among other serious issues.

Mitchell is convinced that his candidate for the post, Ari Sky, will change that.

Sky has worked in public finance at the county level since 1990 and as director of management and budget for Fauquier County in Virginia since 2008.

Were he to be appointed by the City Council, CFO would be his only job. His duties, Mitchell said on Thursday, would include the obvious long-term policy planning, as well as work on collective bargaining agreements, implementation of management systems, and developing and implementing strategies to raise the city's bond rating, all duties he's been performing in Virginia.

There is no question that it's time for New Bedford to employ a professional financial manager, especially, Mitchell says, with the dramatic changes predicted for the city's economic environment and the perpetual challenges of funding pensions and retiree health care.

Mitchell said Thursday he is confident the City Council "well appreciates" the consequences of continuing with this void in the city's financial team.

We are in complete agreement that a $300 million entity caring for more than 90,000 residents needs a professional CFO, and expect the process can move appropriately and swiftly.